the nooks and crannies of Barcelona

I really love Barcelona! It has grown on me. What I love most is that it has a lot of nooks and crannies just like Edinburgh. You go down a narrow street and there's always something interesting. You might come to a plaza with restaurants, an old church. There are vintage shops, strange little shops along its narrow side street. I found a shop that only sold condoms. Won't be needin' any of those but interesting... Then I found a shop that sold crucifixes, baby Jesuses, saint statues, etc that was 104 years old. 

The Roman city of Barcino was founded in 15 BC. A wall was built around the city at that time. In the 3rd Century and 2nd wall was built incorporating more land and in the 13th century yet another wall. Apparently you can never have too many walls.

I love this ancient history. It's so cool that there are parts of ancient walls from 15 BC that you can still see. In the Placa Nova in the gothic quarter there is an entry point, which was one of four, to the original walled city. One of the main roads of the original city started here.There are still two towers there. There is also evidence of the arches of  2 aqueducts that came together here that provided the city with water. 

A bishops palace is attached to the wall here. There is also a cathedral. This where Barcelona began

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October 26, 2022 at 09:

selling on the street in Barcelona

There is a phenomenon that apparently occurs all over Spain but I've just seen it in Barcelona. It's called top manta (top blanket). It is the illegal sale of counterfeit products on the street. 

Ive seen it along the beach in gava on the boardwalk/sidewalk. Sellers lay out a blanket and put their products on it . In this case it was blanket after blanket of sneakers, purses, sports jerseys, belts and the list goes on. These products all look like the real thing with nike swoops and jerseys that look like the real thing. 

These products are produced in factories in China, India, Spain. They are sold mostly by  illegal and legal African immigrants. They are know as manteros. Some  work for larger scale criminal organizations and make very little. Others do it because finding a job as an African migrant can be impossible.

This was a huge problem pre-pandemic in central Barcelona along streets frequented by tourists. It would often be set up near subway stations. When the police approached they take the blanket in a bundle and run down into the station to escape. 

They have met with mixed reaction in the past, sometimes ignored by city officials. There has been a crackdown after a couple violent incidents and they are much less present in the central area. 

I've seen them in parks, at landmarks selling on a much smaller scale selling jewelry, fans, water. 

 Anywhere there are tourists, you will find them. 

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October 25, 2022 at 09:39PM

Barcelona is just about perfect

 Let's say some old bat American decided to move to Europe for a year. Where would the old fool be better off living?

Having travelled to the UK and Europe for 153 days, 8 hours and some odd seconds, I would choose Spain. Spain is by no means perfect but it is beautiful. And lush. And tropical. It has beautiful beaches, mountains. It's cheap by American standards. Great public transportation. Nice people.

Now where in Spain? Barcelona. In my humble opinion,  living outside the city would be ideal.The city is big, busy, lots of traffic. It reminds me of New York but with more space. 

Barcelona has everything big cities offer-culture, restaurants, shopping, great architecture, beautiful parks, historic places, more diversity than other places in Spain. It is in a good place for travel to all of Europe, the middle east, Africa by train. Cheap flights here. 

The thing is Barcelona has all that and it is physically beautiful with all the lush vegetation and flowers. That's the difference. 

I think where we are right now, Gava or the area near it, would be a really nice place to live. You have beach, mountains, beautiful neighborhoods. You are close to Barcelona.

The only downsides I could see is the summer tourist season. It is busy now with tourists, can't imagine during the summer. It must be crazy. Another downside is summer weather. It gets hot. It's humid here now and with the heat it could get pretty miserable. 

So here's what you do: You travel north during June, July August and spend more time here the rest of the year. 

So that's my rose colored glasses analysis of where to live in Europe. No doubt actually living here is a whole other ball game. And no, I'm not moving to Spain anytime soon.

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October 24, 2022 at 08:10PM

I miss home

Has this trip satisfied my itch to travel? Do I still want to live somewhere other than the United States?

I have certainly seen a lot in this past 153 days. I have been to  9 countries, 13 cities. I've taken 5 plane rides, 10 train trips, too many bus, subway, tram rides to count. Oh and one funicular! Cant forget that. I've walked 658 miles in  these 5 1/2 months.  

The most I walked in one day was 9.9 miles. That was on July 13 in Edinburgh. Where the hell was I walking to that day? It probably involved hills since Edinburgh was all hills.

Oh yes, Edinburgh, a painful city. One of my most favorite on this trip but the hills and stairs could kill you. The only other city we encountered killer hills was Lausanne Switzerland. The city is built on a hill. To get t our airbnb from the train was a straight uphill climb. It took some getting used to. Worth it with the views from there. 

I've seen beautiful mountains on train trips through the alps and other places. The otherworldly greenery of Ireland. Beautiful lochs in Scotland. Beautiful beaches in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Spain. 

I've seen castles, cathedrals, beautiful bridges, stunning architecture in London, France, Spain, Austria, Germany. I've on seen ordinary homes and opulent homes. Ancient buildings and new buildings. Walked cobblestone streets. Heard church bells ring in many countries. Heard street musicians in every country. 

I've heard many languages and accents  other than my own. Most of all, I've met many people, heard some stories, asked some questions. Felt the kindness of strangers.

The itch to travel isn't satisfied. I won't do it this way again but I will do it again. And again. Do i still want to live somewhere other than the United States? I don't know. I miss home.

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October 23, 2022 at 09:23PM

Is Spain racist?

So today stayed in gava, gava, gava, where the airbnb is. I honestly could just stay here everyday and be happy. The sea keeps me happy. Besides you could really see the mountains clearly today. It's been pretty hazy.

Every morning there are clouds and sun. Maybe that's the way it is where you are so close to the sea. Maybe the water and air temp are close. I don't know. The last few days have been hazy and humid. Pretty sticky. It's weird , it doesn't get out of the 70's but feel hot in the sun. 

So I decided to take a walk down the boardwalk by the beach a couple miles. Lots more people on a Saturday naturally. There are restaurants and bars along the way. lot a wine drinking going on. 

I come to a place where there are purses, sports jerseys, sneakers, belts laid out on big cloths. The stuff has the brand name on them but they are obviously knockoffs. 

This goes on for couple of blocks. They are all being sold by black men. Here in Spain you see a lot of black people selling stuff. At the beach they sell beach cloths and sunglasses. On the street they sell bracelets. They sold spain flags at the national day of spain. It's always black men.

There are a lot more black people (African) people in Barcelona than there were in Valencia or Madrid. That's not saying much because those cities had next to none. This in a country that is 9 miles from Africa. Spain has remarkably view black people.

1.3 million people in Spain are African. Spain has 47 million people.  So that's about 2 percent. Spain has a lot of immigrants from South America. So it considers itself diverse because of that. Few from Africa. It's obvious they aren't wanted.

Spain and the EU pay and give favorable treatment to Morocco to keep African migrants from coming here. A lot of people would say: "Can you blame them? They are poor and will become dependent. They don't speak the language."

Latin American immigrants share the language but they are also coming for economic reasons. The difference is they are wanted here, encouraged to come here, for unskilled labor jobs. It is easier for them to get citizenship. 

Racism? You decide.

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October 22, 2022 at 06:15PM

Sagrada Familia boggles the mind

Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is unlike any church I have seen and I've seen a lot on this trip. It's like a church out of a fantasy. It looks like something you would see in a Harry Potter book. It's like it's melting. 

I mean who designs a church like this? Someone like Gaudi does. His architectural style was Catalonia Modernism. It favors the curve over the straight line, rich decoration and detail. It uses vegetation in its design. Things are not necessarily symmetrical. Ceramics are sometimes used. In other words it is DIFFERENT. 

The basilica was built to honor the holy family:Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It has 3 facades called the nativity, the passion and the glory. Depending on where you are standing outside determines which facade you see. 

The nativity depicts the birth and childhood of Jesus. It is divided into 3 portals representing faith, hope and charity. (These 3values are part of all the facades) It has statues depicting the nativity. It has flowers, vegetation, animals, birds. The four   towers are part of this facade and they represent four of the apostles.

The passion facade is completely different and is meant to look like bones, to look more austere. It depicts the death and resurrection. There are 3 levels to this facade and scenes within each depict events at the time of Jesus death. There are another 4 towers representing four more apostles. 

The Glory facade was only started in 2002. It will represent the glory of Jesus. Four more towers for 4 more apostles. This one will have 20 flash lights that will shine on clouds incorporated into the towers and the clouds will surround an image of God. He wanted this to be visible from the sea.

The glory facade will be completed in 2026, 100 years after Gaudis death. He knew the church would not be completed before his death. 

This church's exterior is incredibly complex. I can only imagine what the interior is like There is truly nothing like it in the world.

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October 21, 2022 at 08:35PM

Barcelona wants out of Spain

One thing you will notice wandering the streets of Barcelona are the Catalunya (Catalonia) flags. They are draped from balconies, high on flag poles. Catalans are a proud people and the majority want independence from Spain. 

Catalunya is an autonomous community in Spain based on nationality, meaning it has a historic cultural identity. They have self government but send representatives to the national legislature. They can have their own laws, but are also subject to national laws. They pretty much control all aspects of their community. They pay taxes to the national government.

The independence movement started in 1922 with the formation of a political party advocating independence. They proclaimed a catalonia republic in 1931 and had autonomy. Franco abolished that in 1938 and catalan activists for independence were jailed.

After Franco died and Spain became a "democracy", Catalan leaders concentrated on autonomy rather than independence.

After Spains financial crisis in 2007-2008 and a political party's challenge to the autonomy statue (parts were declared unconstitutional), referendums were held on independence.

In 2014 a large majority voted for independence. There was a boycott of the referendum by pro unity parties so only half of voters turned out.  By this time the pro-independence parties controlled the Catalan legislature.

In 2017, a new referendum caused controversy nationally but the Catalan legislature passed a motion to declare independence .At the same time the Spanish legislature voted to take control of the region until elections could be held. Government leaders were arrested, some fled the country. They were put in prison. They were pardoned in 2021.

As of now, it's a holding pattern. There are ongoing negotiations which anger those who are adamant for independence. I don't think Spain will ever allow independence, Catalunya generates too much money for the country.

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October 20, 2022 at 07:32PM
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October 20, 2022 at 07:32PM